November 2009 – Leeds's Singing Organ-Grinder

Why I’m called Trevor

Or, rather, how my grandfather seems to have been named after a minor railway station.

Carmen de España

A not particularly serious assault on Prosper Mérimée.

Extremadura government to pay for wanking workshops

We’re in for a long recession: if the Extremadura PSOE says that pleasure is in your hands (via PD), then presumably they know that Spaniards aren’t going to be able to afford prostitutes for the foreseeable future. There’s been the predictable outcry from Catalan nationalists who believe they are subsidising Extremaduran tosspots and other spendthrift…

An unusual case of risus sardonicus

Is Mr Barbecue Bunny’s sardonic grin pre- or post-mortem?

Drawing by <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9s_Laguna'>Andrés (de) Laguna de Segovia</a> of a candidate for the Sardinian laughing plant in <a href='http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA250&id=l8I9qBq-PNYC'>a 1651 Valencian edition of Dioscorides</a>.

Why Spain needs text books

Its teachers are raging butterflies, says a 16th century music publishing entrepreneur.

Jingoistic poem celebrating the Battle of Vigo Bay (1702)

Half roasted Frenchmen, some o’er Gratings Broil’d/Do mix with Spaniards in the Sea parboil’d;